Selling warehouse will help 'generations to come'

Selling a former warehouse to a local college will provide benefits for "generations to come", a council has said.

West Suffolk Council's cabinet approved the sale of the former Discount Warehouse Superstore site, in Anglian Lane, Bury St Edmunds, at a meeting on Tuesday.

The 2.16-acre plot will be sold to Eastern Education Group, which runs West Suffolk College, so it has space to train more students in construction and building services.

However, the sale will result in an undisclosed financial loss for the council.

"I feel very strongly that it's an important and highly desirable use for the site," said Diane Hind, the council's Labour cabinet member for finance.

"Supporting young people is especially essential."

According to council papers, the sale will result in a loss, having been first bought for £1.74m in 2018 by the former St Edmundsbury Borough Council, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

West Suffolk Council, which took ownership of the asset, said that by selling the building it would no longer have to pay £70,000 per year in holding costs.

West Suffolk College has been established as a Construction Technical Excellence College (CTEC) for the East of England.

Liv Bradley, the director of CTEC at the college, said: "This expansion will provide the additional space needed to train more learners across construction and building services disciplines, enabling us to respond more effectively to industry demand, emerging technologies, and evolving workforce needs."

The new facility will still be subject to planning permission and a successful funding bid from the Department for Education.

The site was due to form part of the proposed Western Way leisure centre before the idea was shelved by the council in 2023.

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